Hey Rat Punchers, happy new year once again!
After a bit of a holiday break, I’m back to work on Shattered Pixel Dungeon, which includes laying out some plans for the coming year! This post starts with a year in review, and then lists the major changes and additions that I have planned for Shattered Pixel Dungeon in 2025 and beyond.
A lot of people thought the same about the caves quest. A lot of people I saw playing were skipping it because it’s too taxing for On Diet
Players adapt better than you imagine
I also thought On Diet made the caves quest difficult, but I manage to adapt to it specifically because I can prepare for it. That’s the entire point of this message, every obstacle in this game can be adapted to because there is a way to prepare items. That’s what makes roguelikes fun, you see an impossible boss ahead, and on the next run, you bring solutions to counter that boss.
The vault quest however, has no possible way to prepare if you start at zero again. That’s the problem. The only way to adapt to vault quest is if players are allowed to pre-buff before the vault, but at that point it’s no longer worth getting the +2 ring as you need those buff items for dwarf king and yog in 9-chal. If the vault quest won’t be as RNG-hell as 9-chal sewers, then there is another way to adapt via skill and memory, but that’ll be difficult to balance with challenges.
To a degree you also can’t prepare for the caves quest
You can only damage enemies with the one item you are given, which is the Pickaxe
I’m sure the Vault quest will follow a similar logic, you start with no items but get to pick items based on the current situation
Maybe you will find a unique sword that can kill unique enemies, or a unique spear that can keep them at bay, however you can’t hold both of them at once
A part of Roguelikes is also adapting to unique and unexpected scenarios. This might be one of them
And you keep on yapping about challenges making things harder… Like bro, they are challenges
Not true, only the boss needs to be pickaxed. Everything here can be prepared: sight options, cleansing potion for food, preparing huge damage + crowd control for the minions. Stamina potion can help chase and dodge against the boss, which essentially gives the player high pickaxe DPS. Without options, there is no adaptation, and that’s the “sewer problem” that’ll hopefully not exist in the vault.
And please stop twisting my words. I never said that challenges are bad because they make things harder. I’m saying that a game can be both difficult and fun, and if said difficulty strips away entire classes and core gameplay elements to remove player choices, then it’s bad game design, and we can learn from successful games on how to better create difficulty. If the google result to “Shattered PD challenges” is players complaining how poorly designed it is, then there’s a problem.
You can win the quests without encountering minions, fighting them, without wasting food, and without vision
Even if you can’t, you can severely limit the minions damage output with proper positioning
Also, I really don’t care what your opinion on challenges are
But you only complain that it’s gonna make the game harder for people who play challenges. A really big portion of people don’t play challenges
And if you happen to be someone that does, then you gotta take the difficulty level that comes with it